A Little Wizard

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Weyman Stanley John. A Little Wizard

CHAPTER I. PATTENHALL

CHAPTER II. MALHAM HIGH MOORS

CHAPTER III. LANGDALE'S HORSE

CHAPTER IV. THE MEAL CHEST

CHAPTER V. TREASURE TROVE

CHAPTER VI. DEAD SEA APPLES

CHAPTER VII. THE WOODEN CROSS

CHAPTER VIII. A STRANGE TRIAL

CHAPTER IX. HIS EXCELLENCY'S JUDGMENT

Отрывок из книги

Still nearly an hour elapsed before the tired horse stopped at the door of the small grey dwelling which Gridley had pointed out. The house, a rough farmstead of four rooms, stood high in a nook of the moor, facing Ingleborough. A few yew-trees filled the narrowing dell behind it with black shadow; a low wall of loose stones which joined one ridge to another formed a fold before it. The clatter of hoofs, as the horse climbed the rocky slope leading to the house, brought out a man and woman, who, leaning on this wall, watched the couple approach.

The aspect of the man was stern, dry, and austere; in a word, at one with the harsh and rugged scene in which he lived. His gloomy eyes and square jaw seemed signs of a character resolute, narrow, bigoted, and it might be cruel. At first sight the woman appeared a helpmeet well suited to him. Her narrow forehead and thin lips, her pinched nose and small blue eyes, seemed the reproduction in a feminine mould of his more massive features. Despite this, she constantly produced upon strangers a less favorable impression than he did; and though this impression was rarely understood, it lingered long and faded slowly if at all.

.....

Even in his panic he had sufficient presence of mind to close the lid softly, but the act detained him so long that he had no chance of moving away from the chest; and there Mistress Gridley found him when she entered, with her rushlight shaded, and her small eyes gleaming triumphantly behind it.

"Ho! ho!" she said, in a whisper; "I have caught a rat, have I?"

.....